December 05, 2007
Rudy's "One Hour" Ad Pumps Fear Factor
When all else isn't quite working, when Mitt Romney's still on top in N.H. and John McCain is gaining ground there, and when Mike Huckabee is stealing everyone else's thunder nationally, what's a Rudy Giuliani to do? Why not throw 9/11, Ronald Reagan and the Iranian hostage crisis in one new 30-second ad to run in N.H. and Boston? That's fear in triplicate.
Called "One Hour" ... The script:
MAYOR GIULIANI: “I remember back to the 1970s and the early 1980s. Iranian mullahs took American hostages and they held the American hostages for 444 days. And they released the American hostages in one hour, and that should tell us a lot about these Islamic terrorists that we’re facing. The one hour in which they released them was the one hour in which Ronald Reagan was taking the Oath of Office as President of the United States. The best way you deal with dictators, the best way you deal with tyrants and terrorists, you stand up to them. You don’t back down. I’m Rudy Giuliani and I approve this message.”
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
Posted at 08:33 AM
Comments
Is Rudy really claiming that the Iranians released the hostages because they were afraid of Reagan? What a revisionist view of history.
The Reagan folks were negotiating with the Mullahs to secure the release of the hostages before he was sworn in as president. They Iranians and Reagan arranged the timing of the release for after Reagan was sworn in as President in order to further humiliate the outgoing President Carter.
It wasn't force or the threat of force that enabled this to happen -- it was negotiation that brought the crisis to an end.
Terje | 12.05.07 11:04 AM
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I seem to remember too that there was a lot of back room dealing between Reagan and the ultra right wingers with the Iranians to hold the hostages until Reagan took office. I was a grown man then and remember how it was under Reagan, while he wasn't as bad as Carter was in no way did the man walk on water. In fact it's come to light that he did a lot of borrowing and left it for the next admin to pay back.
ed | 12.05.07 04:51 PM
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Reagan the Republican Jesus
I always wondered what Reagan and Co. promised the Iranians so that they would hold on to those hostages until that moment. How much longer did those hostages have to spend in captivity because Reagan wanted this little moment of Glory ?
Sky Pete Wash, DC | 12.07.07 03:54 AM
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